The Shoes

Her feet are a beautiful chocolate brown. Callous' and scars adorn the top and bottoms of them. For fifteen years she has walked on the rich earth  near her village of Doumbaibai  with the bareness and non inhibiting restraint of shoes. The soles of her feet are flattened and toughened from walking, running, playing.

She comes to us speaking nothing but her tribal language. From a culture to a culture so foreign of each other that comparison is not really a option.

This new culture requires shoes! A barbaric suggestion...but required nonetheless.  The used clothing store seems the best option since the size or preference is obsolete. So it begins the decision to encase those feet that have only felt freedom of the ground.  She chooses a pair that does not fit.  I chose a pair that she does not like. She chooses a pair of white stilettos. Probably not, I say.  And so it goes...pair after pair.  Most to narrow...a few to big.  Finally at the very end of the shoe aisle on the bottom shelf is success. Well worn and stretched out. With a smile on her beautiful face...she declares victory. She wears them out of the store.

"She must be so happy to have a pair of shoes!" says a friend.  It doesn't matter to her one bit. Shoes are not a priority. In fact a lot of things that is deemed important in this culture matters not to her. A bed to lay in? What is wrong with the floor. She sleeps under the stars, or the rain or what ever other weather her part of the Sahara might have. Running water...she smiles as she teaches how to "sous" clothes in a bucket of water from the river.

 Some things she does find important that she considers are missing is her daily "boule" which is a spongy bread made from millet, oil and other undefined ingredients. She also would like to have a okra gumbo to dip it in, but as of yet it has not been accomplished in this kitchen.  She thinks it "Loco" to have a variety of clothes...why not wash the one you have worn and wear it again tomorrow.

Getting a glimpse into her culture makes this culture and society suddenly seem so silly...almost diverting.  Making the thought pattern ask... "is it  us who are the ones who are in need.  In need of simplicity, clarity, understanding of importance...!" 

What are a pair of shoes?  Not much when you own 30 different pairs....but even less when you don't own even one!